I finished all the mowing on Saturday so I didn’t have anything on my schedule but online church yesterday. I puttered around in the garden. I watered all the tomato plants with the epsom salt solution. I trimmed some wild growth along the back fence that’s threatening the garden with too much shade. There’s a deer wandering around with a bum leg and I checked on her. She seems to be eating and getting to the water in the creek ok so I’m just going to watch her for awhile. I fed the sourdough starter and made a great supper. We ate out on the deck which was lovely. Then took a long walk around the property. I wanted to show Mr. FixIt a fruit tree I found along the edge of the field. It looks like a peach. Or maybe a cherry. No fruit, though.

I watched CBS Sunday Morning yesterday with my coffee. They did a story on the memes that have been out about the “Karens” of the world…typically white middle-aged housewives who are prone to ask to speak to the manager. I’ve worked in hospitality and in medicine and lived near Aspen for years. I’m quite familiar with the type of privilege this embodies.

I wondered where they would take this with the videos of women (and men) behaving badly and I was glad to see the turn it took at the end. My job at the hotels I worked at was to deal with disgruntled guests. Disgruntled guests who had dropped a bundle of money to stay where they were staying. I myself have had to speak to managers before, but I can guarantee I never threw a hissy fit the likes of which would scare any preschooler straight.

It’s difficult to deal with this kind of person in general. Back when I dealt with them, cell phones with video cameras weren’t around yet. I can imagine seeing someone tape you acting a fool is comparable to throwing gasoline on an open flame. Do we really think trying to shame them by splashing their less than flattering behaviors all over the internet is going to change them? Or is it just bringing us down to their level using their meltdown for some sort of amusement…sort of like watching a train wreck?

My answer when dealing with them directly was to find a common ground and appeal to their sense of fairness. That was then. We’ve unleashed an entirely new beast now. Let’s just say, I am really glad I’m not working in customer service anymore. Now I just pray for them that they somehow see themselves more honestly. That they “wake up”. 

A friend shared a video taken in a local park. A young black man and his father got out of their car to walk and a man walking a dog stopped and stared at them. Then he started saying terrible things to them…racial slurs and worse. The young man told his dad this was his first experience with racism. The dad said he had never seen it this bad. It broke my heart that this was in my home town.

I feel like I’m living in the Twilight Zone. It’s like we’re living in the Civil War, the Civil Rights Era, Watergate, and the Ten Plagues…all at once. Add health issues and the extra chores and the heat and no “me time” and I’m getting downright cranky.

My only answer now is prayer. Lots and lots of prayer. 

Oh…and skinny dipping in the dark. 

That’s good for the soul.

You can see the CBS Sunday Morning story here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/faith-salie-on-the-term-karen/

❤️

“Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”

James 5:9 NIV